Panorama Undercover Care: The abuse exposed

[boyfriday]

How can someone in care, be cared for by someone with no professional qualification. I think it's disgusting, that any human being would treat another like this.

I think the second part of your post answers the first, it should be a basic feature of human behaviour-the desire to care for people in need of it or less fortunate than ourselves. It's more surprising that people need to be taught not to be wicked and vindictive towards people in their care.

[andikay]

You dont need qualifications to be caring, the problem is not a lack of qualifications its a recruitment problem. Whoever vetted these people must have had a screw loose!

 

I agree you shouldn’t need qualification to care but they would need training in acceptable methods of restraint and how to deal effectively with some that could become violentand abusive.

[digglydog]

 

 

And yes there are some good homes out there, yes do your research, but I reiterate what I've said, as far as I'm concerned having dealt with many there are more which are bad, each home has to be run on a profit, & I'm sorry to many managers in these home profit comes before quality. Sometimes what appears on the surface to be a good home, I can guarantee you with a little knowledge of where to dig, it doesn’t take long to find issues in many homes.

 

You have a valid point.I think the Castlebeck case was extreme but there are many places that charge a fortune and do not provide the level of care that they say they do.This means that there are many people who are not actually being abused in the accepted sense of the word but who are not having their needs met as they should be.

£3500 is the top end of the market .They should have been providing at least 1-1 care from properly qualified and trained staff but that would have eaten intotheir profit margin.With the new govt proposals it will only get worse.

[digglydog]

You dont need qualifications to be caring, the problem is not a lack of qualifications its a recruitment problem. Whoever vetted these people must have had a screw loose!

 

You don't need qualifications as such but this was a specialist unit for people with complex needs and challenging behaviour and for that you do need specially trained staff with the right apptitude for the job

[Fudbeer]

You dont need qualifications to be caring, the problem is not a lack of qualifications its a recruitment problem. Whoever vetted these people must have had a screw loose!

 

Exactly I would have thought any competent recruiter by asking the right questions and doing a little digging would have been able to expose these people for what they are even if they did put up a smoke screen at the interview.

 

Recruitment really is key in situations like this and should be done at a very senior level with plenty of time spent vetting candidates,team work excercises ect ect a skilled recruiter would be able to see the real character of these people after all with all the management in the world much of the job is about trust.

[Arguendo]

Caring jobs are so under paid that they unfortunately sometimes attract these type of people. How can someone in care, be cared for by someone with no professional qualification. I think it's disgusting, that any human being would treat another like this.

 

But the English government have created this problems, many care homes are charities and get little, if any government funding. Because the government can't make money out of these people they don't care about them......

 

 

First of all salaries in the private sector are only slightly lower than the NHS, Just to give you an example of pay scale in private homes;

 

Manager = 40-50.000 pa + Bonus of anything around £10.000+ pa, to receive the bonus the manager has to make a profit, bed occupancy has to be maintained, food bill, maintenance, activities/socialisation, & staffing costs all play a major part.

Deputy Manager = 30.000+pa

Staff Nurse = 22.000+pa

Health care Assistant= £13.500 - £16.500Ppa (salary rises according to experience & educational qualifications), pay is further enhanced through bank holiday & night supplements.

 

So the pay is not the issue, the issue is recruitment & poor management, all staff receive adequate training in caring for vulnerable adults, a legal requirement, if a person does not have adequate training the home can be closed down. Although the staff identified, are primarily at fault, through their illegal assaults on these residents, each & every person in that home is at fault, including those who turned a blind eye to what’s going on.

 

 

In reply to your comments in bold, care facilities ARE NOT CHARITIES, they are private companies, whose main aim is to make a profit, these companies will sacrifice all the above (my comments in bold), in order to keep shareholders happy. This is private healthcare caring for our most vulnerable. As other SF members have pointed out you pay for what you get, each & every care home will receive a set fee from social services, or/and from the sale of their house, the fee charged increases according to the level of need the resident requires. Some homes will charge what is called a top up, in which the resident will pay, these tend to be the good ones, but because it’s a competition between these companies the lower the cost & less top up fees the more chance of attracting residents, however this impacts on quality, combine this with poor quality staff attitudes and you have a home from hell.

[digglydog]

 

 

 

each & every care home will receive a set fee from social services, or/and from the sale of their house, the fee charged increases according to the level of need the resident requires. Some homes will charge what is called a top up, in which the resident will pay, these tend to be the good ones, but because it’s a competition between these companies the lower the cost & less top up fees the more chance of attracting residents, however this impacts on quality, combine this with poor quality staff attitudes and you have a home from hell.

 

This is unlikely to be the case with Castlebeck as I would assume that most of the" patients" are funded by continuing health care because of their level of need .That means they are funded by the PCT's who make the final decision about whether someone is placed in a particular home /hospital.

But I agree with your general sentiments.

Have you looked at Castlebecks website ?Makes you want to vomit.

The owners (according to the chap on question time) are a couple of financial speculators who have no knowledge of the caring business.

[Arguendo]

This is unlikely to be the case with Castlebeck as I would assume that most of the" patients" are funded by continuing health care because of their level of need .That means they are funded by the PCT's who make the final decision about whether someone is placed in a particular home /hospital.

But I agree with your general sentiments.

Have you looked at Castlebecks website ?Makes you want to vomit.

The owners (according to the chap on question time) are a couple of financial speculators who have no knowledge of the caring business.

 

Yeah failed to add that bit on, but explaining to someone about CHC & different types of care facilities, when they believe care homes are charities would have fallen on deaf ears, I've tried to make it as simple as possible, but when it comes down to it the social care system of homes is quite complex, but one thing they all have in common they are private companies out ot make a profit.

 

Yes I did a bit of research on them when I watched the programme, it's one of the few times that I've been embarressed & ashamed of my profession, i've never felt so much anger watching the programme, in fact i'm not violent, but every time I saw that carer (Wayne) I wanted to knock his lights out. You look at many homes, you'll find they are owned by business consortiums & as you say have no knowledge of healthcare for elderly, infirmed, vulnerable adults, but they sure no how to make a profit!!

Regards:)

[TerryRGirl]

My care job in sheffield involved a interview then a phone call that night asking if I could come for a trial as someone had called in sick, this was a first time in a care job or any sort and I never had any training of any kind so I was thrown in the deep end in a home with people with mental illness.

 

On my shift it was a regular thing for everyone to be put to bed as soon as possible because that was the cleaning could be done and careplans etc, We were told by management that everyone has spot checks every 2 hours, did they ever happen?? no.

 

I used to walk around at night to see if anyone was awake and needing help while other staff including nurses slept - which funnily enough when I got to work that first night I was told by the manager that if anyone is found sleeping by the nurses it's instant dismissal. I can say I never once slept there, I was there to work and not to sleep and mistreat people.

 

Spotchecks were meant to be done every 2 hours and every half an hour for someone who was poorly, they were done by myself and another member of staff but if we was ever working along side a nurse we would put them to bed with incontinant pads and then be told not to wake them til the morning as it's abuse to wake them from their sleep - I thought it was more abuse leaving people in their own pads all night. I was expected to use equiptment i've never been trained to use, hoist's etc which I refused to do, I didn't stay long in that job, saw too much for my liking and decided that wasn't a place for me to be in when I got attacked one night by a lady and being alone on the floor I was helpless and I felt I couldn't do anything to this lady as she was ill and it probably wasn't her fault and I would never hurt anyone no matter how much they hurt me and I was never shown how to defuse a situation like that with someone being very violent towards you, after about 20mins and me pulling the emergeny cords in 3 rooms I decided I wasn't going back into that, oh not to mention the night all the alarms failed and all the doors were open yet having called management we were told there was nothing they could do and they would sort it out in the morning... I told the manager exactly what I thought and left the next day, I reported them but never heard anything back from it - although I do know they were under investigation for a neglect case.

 

 

My next care job was with an agency, they expected me to share a wage with another driver which an hour call was £7 so I was working for below minimum wage. yeah, I didn't stay there long!

 

I truely love care work and I would love to get into it again but seeing the people who do work in homes like that and the agency workers I worked with just makes me realise so many people are just in it for the money and they might be able 2 treat it as just a simple job but I couldn't and I found it very hard to switch off at the end of the night knowing that these elderly people felt like a burden to people that actually are paid to care for them.

 

I know there are many people in the job that are truely caring and do enjoy such a rewarding job but again there are so many people there because it is such an easy job to fall into I meant that first night I wasn't CRB checked or anything, I had just gone for my interview for the job, says so much about that place and I've heard so many other stories like mine and it makes you think so much about how much does go on behind closed doors.

[Fudbeer]

My care job in sheffield involved a interview then a phone call that night asking if I could come for a trial as someone had called in sick, this was a first time in a care job or any sort and I never had any training of any kind so I was thrown in the deep end in a home with people with mental illness.

 

On my shift it was a regular thing for everyone to be put to bed as soon as possible because that was the cleaning could be done and careplans etc, We were told by management that everyone has spot checks every 2 hours, did they ever happen?? no.

 

I used to walk around at night to see if anyone was awake and needing help while other staff including nurses slept - which funnily enough when I got to work that first night I was told by the manager that if anyone is found sleeping by the nurses it's instant dismissal. I can say I never once slept there, I was there to work and not to sleep and mistreat people.

 

Spotchecks were meant to be done every 2 hours and every half an hour for someone who was poorly, they were done by myself and another member of staff but if we was ever working along side a nurse we would put them to bed with incontinant pads and then be told not to wake them til the morning as it's abuse to wake them from their sleep - I thought it was more abuse leaving people in their own pads all night. I was expected to use equiptment i've never been trained to use, hoist's etc which I refused to do, I didn't stay long in that job, saw too much for my liking and decided that wasn't a place for me to be in when I got attacked one night by a lady and being alone on the floor I was helpless and I felt I couldn't do anything to this lady as she was ill and it probably wasn't her fault and I would never hurt anyone no matter how much they hurt me and I was never shown how to defuse a situation like that with someone being very violent towards you, after about 20mins and me pulling the emergeny cords in 3 rooms I decided I wasn't going back into that, oh not to mention the night all the alarms failed and all the doors were open yet having called management we were told there was nothing they could do and they would sort it out in the morning... I told the manager exactly what I thought and left the next day, I reported them but never heard anything back from it - although I do know they were under investigation for a neglect case.

 

 

My next care job was with an agency, they expected me to share a wage with another driver which an hour call was £7 so I was working for below minimum wage. yeah, I didn't stay there long!

 

I truely love care work and I would love to get into it again but seeing the people who do work in homes like that and the agency workers I worked with just makes me realise so many people are just in it for the money and they might be able 2 treat it as just a simple job but I couldn't and I found it very hard to switch off at the end of the night knowing that these elderly people felt like a burden to people that actually are paid to care for them.

 

I know there are many people in the job that are truely caring and do enjoy such a rewarding job but again there are so many people there because it is such an easy job to fall into I meant that first night I wasn't CRB checked or anything, I had just gone for my interview for the job, says so much about that place and I've heard so many other stories like mine and it makes you think so much about how much does go on behind closed doors.

 

Thanks for posting that I find it quite shocking what is going on clearly there are major issues in some of these places.